


End of an Era

by watcherofworlds



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 02:57:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7249261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the end of yet another day, wasted, in Peggy's opinion, by the tedium of doing paperwork, Howard brings Peggy the distressing news that the World Security Council is forcing her to retire as Director. Faced with the grim reality of the loss of the one thing she had left in her life that gave it any meaning, she deals with the news in the one way she knows how-by demanding that Nick Fury be appointed her successor. Leaving the Triskelion for the last time, she is suddenly crushed under the weight of everything she has lost and is about to lose and turns to Howard for comfort-the last time she will be able to do so before his death at the hands of the Winter Soldier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	End of an Era

**Author's Note:**

> My aim with this fic was to explore Peggy and Howard's relationship near the end of Howard's life and Peggy's career as director of SHIELD. This is only my third work on this site, so please let me know what you think.

_May 1991_

Peggy Carter, sitting in her office in the Triskelion on a sunny afternoon, flipped through the pile of paperwork that was still left for her to do and sighed. She missed doing fieldwork. She hadn't been on a single field mission since becoming director of SHIELD. Being Director was a desk job, it seemed, even though Howard had promised her that it wouldn't be. As if her thoughts had summoned him. her office door swung open and Howard walked in.

"Well?" she demanded. "Spit it out." Howard faltered.

"What?" he asked.

"You're wearing your bad news face," Peggy informed him.

"Oh," Howard said. He stepped away from the door and approached her desk.

"What is it?" she asked gently.

"The uh... the Council is asking that you retire," Howard said.

"Thank you, Secretary Stark," Peggy replied, falling into formality the way she always did when confronted with bad news. "Tell the Council that I will consider their request."

"Yeah, about that," Howard said, "I know that I said they're asking, but it's not a request. It's an order."

"So you're saying that they're ordering me to retire?"

"Unfortunately, yes. They've noticed that you've been... forgetful lately, and they're worried it could be a sign of something more serious."

"So they're getting rid of me because of something they're afraid _might_ happen? Typical. Well, tell them I'm far too busy to even consider retiring."

"You think I haven't tried that? They're insisting. They told me to tell you that as of the end of your shift today you can consider yourself no longer a part of SHIELD." Peggy twisted her wedding ring around her finger. She glanced at the picture on her desk, which had gone with her from the war to the New York Bell Company to SHIELD and now to this sunny office overlooking the Potomac. She had to wonder at herself sometimes. Seventy-five years old, and still clinging to mementos of the men she had loved.

 _Not loved_ , she reminded herself, thinking of Daniel, _love. It's not as if my feelings for them cease to be because they're dead._

"Very well," she finally said, "but I want Nick Fury appointed as my successor."

"The Council's not going to like that," Howard warned.

"Well, why on Earth not?" she asked.

"Well, he's young-" Howard started to reply. Peggy cut him off with a burst of laughter.

"He's thirty-four years old," she said. "His life is practically half over."

"He's inexperienced-"

"Oh please. He's been working for this organization for over a decade. He's hardly inexperienced. There is absolutely no one I trust with the management of SHIELD more than him."

"The Council is going to think you're playing favorites."

"Fine. Let them think what they want. I will not be swayed on this." Howard gave Peggy a long, searching look.

"All right," he said. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," Peggy replied in a way that implied that the conversation was over. When Howard made no move to leave, she asked "Don't you have somewhere to be?" Howard glanced down at his wristwatch.

"Actually, no," he said. "I'm headed home in a few hours." Peggy nodded.

"Good," she said."I should be done with this blasted paperwork by then, and we can leave together. God knows when the last time we were able to do that was." Howard cracked a smile and took a seat in the chair across her desk from her. A half an hour passed in silence before either of them spoke again.

"I've been giving it some thought," Peggy said, "and I think I shall be lucky not to go mad with boredom. At least you have Maria and Tony and your company to keep you busy. I have nothing and no one. Daniel is dead, Steve is long gone, and my children have all grown up and moved away."

"Yeah, well, at least _your_ children will have anything to do with you," Howard remarked. " _My_ kid hates me." Peggy looked askance at him.

"Really Howard?" she asked. " _Must_  we keep having this discussion? Tony does _not_  hate you. He just doesn't understand why you're so busy all the time. When he's older, he will."

"I just hope I'm still around when that happens," Howard muttered.

"Oh, don't be such a morbid old fool," Peggy said, her tone teasing. "Of course you will." Howard laughed, and they lapsed back into silence. An hour later, when the stack of papers in Peggy's inbox had shrunk to half its original size, Peggy spoke again.

"Take me down to the lobby, will you?" she asked. "I want to say goodbye." She was sure that Howard knew that she didn't really need him to take her to the lobby, and she was grateful when he nodded and stood and refrained from making a comment. She didn't really want to do this alone.

The elevator ride down to the lobby was an awkward one. Howard smoothed out an imaginary wrinkle in his crisp grey suit and wouldn't meet her eyes. The elevator doors slid open with a quiet  _ding!_ and Peggy marched out into the lobby, her head held high, her shoulders back, her high heels clicking loudly on the linoleum floor. She continued that way until she reached it. The Wall of Valor. She couldn't remember whose idea it had been initially, hers or Howard's, but she did remember that she was the one who had made it what it was, the one who had dug up all those old SSR files to make sure that everyone got the recognition they deserved, the one who had made sure that Steve and Bucky's names where side by side, as they should be. She reached out and touched a single name written on the wall- _Steve Rogers._  She ran her fingers over the inscription, and suddenly everything she had lost and everything she was about to lose hit her like a ton of bricks. She rested her head against the wall and sobbed.

"Peggy," Howard said urgently, tugging on her sleeve. "Come on, Peg. You're making a scene."

"Damn you, Howard!" Peggy shouted, rounding on him. "They've taken away the one thing I had left in my life that gave it any meaning! I'll make a scene if I damn well want to make a scene!" Howard shrank away from her, cowed.

"All right, all right," he said, trying to placate her. "But let's...let's go back to your office, okay? You can finish your paperwork, and then you can come home with me. I'm sure Maria and Tony would love to see you, and you can cry all you want there. Alright?" He offered her the smallest of smiles, and she felt her anger evaporate. She nodded listlessly. Howard placed a hand between her shoulder blades and guided her gently but firmly back to the elevator. As soon as the doors slid closed she turned and sobbed into his shoulder. Howard sighed deeply and patted her awkwardly on the back. This was not the first time Peggy had done this in the years since losing Steve, and certainly not the first time since she'd met Howard, but it would be the last.


End file.
